A nice zone blitz by Atlanta. LDE initially engages Fred Davis at the line but then drops into pass coverage. The LDT attacks Will Montgomery to the outside. Montgomery could have let the guy go and let Williams pick him up, but he realizes too late the Williams isn't needed on the LDE so a gap is opened up to Montgomery’s left. The MLB, who is lined up right between the two DTs, attacks Rabach head on so that he can’t slide to the right to compensate for Montgomery. The RDT then stunts around him and exploits that hole, and is only slowed by Rabach desperately wrapping his arm around the guy’s neck (hence the holding call). Meanwhile, the RDE has taken Stephon Heyer wide, thus opening up a hole for a blitzing safety. Betts picks up the blitz correctly but blows the block.

Tony Gonzalez fakes as if going into a route, then turn and catches Brian Orakpo off guard to seal him to the outside. A LG-C double team swallows up Haynesworth, the RG pulls and takes out Rocky McIntosh. After making the handoff Matt Ryan pretends he still has the ball for a few steps. This never works, except for this time where it causes London Fletcher to track Ryan’s supposed rollout for a couple of steps before he reverses course to fill Turner’s running lane, so he gets there too late to prevent the first down.

1-10-ATL 48 (12:44) R.White right end to ATL 50 for 2 yards (L.Landry).

2-8-ATL 50 (12:03) M.Turner right tackle to WAS 13 for 37 yards (D.Hall).PENALTY on ATL-T.Clabo, Offensive Holding, 10 yards, enforced at WAS 49.

Turner initially runs left and the line flows that way as well. The LT successfully kicks out Orakpo, but the DTs are winning the battle against the Falcons line and it appears that hole might close before Turner can get there, so he cuts is back to the other side. The LDE, who I cannot identify, has a chance at him but is sealed inside by the RT with the block that results in the holding penalty (a borderline call – we got lucky). Michael Jenkins flattens Chris Horton with a highlight reel block, then the missed tackles begin. Carlos Rogers dives ineffectually at Turner’s feet. LaRon Landry has an angle on him but sacrifices it to avoid hitting him head on – instead Landry slows up and tries to tackle his legs from the side but misses and just slides down him. Fletcher was initially slowed by having to jump over Chris Horton’s prone body, but he catches up here and tries to tackle Turner from behind but is cut off by Landry’s flailing tackle, so he ends up tackling Landry instead. Justin Tryon is run out of the play by a WR, but DeAngelo Hall escapes from his guy to wrap up Turner’s legs with a very solid tackle (God, Hall’s tackling is an enigma).

2-17-ATL 41 (11:35) M.Ryan pass short right to M.Jenkins to ATL 46 for 5 yards (H.Blades).

1-10-WAS 18 (9:45) L.Betts up the middle to WAS 21 for 3 yards (M.Peterson, C.Lofton).

Derrick Dockery seals one DT to the outside, and Rabach and Montgomery dominate to other with a double team. But there’s no lead blocker on this play so despite a big hole in the line Betts just runs straight into a LB. I suspect that once the DT was neutralized Rabach was supposed to shed off him and pick up the LB who made the tackle – otherwise the play design makes no sense.

2-7-WAS 21 (9:10) J.Campbell pass short right to S.Moss to WAS 25 for 4 yards (J.Anderson).

The line holds the pocket perfectly – they stand up to the head-on rushers and adjust nicely to a stunt - and Campbell has tons of time to throw. Campbell goes through multiple reads, keeps his head, and places a perfect pass to Sellers right as he hits a void in the defense.

Falcons blitz a LB and a CB from the offensive right. Mike Williams takes the LB, and Mike Sellers is back there with an easy pickup on the corner. Sellers somehow misses completely – it looks like he just froze. It seems he either just didn’t see the CB coming at all, or thought that Betts was also going to be on the right and he thought his responsibility was to clean up if Williams got beat by his guy. Very odd to watch Sellers stand motionless as the CB runs past him. Not that it matters, but protection collapses on the left side as well. RDE drops into pass coverage, and the RDT races past Williams to the outside and is picked up cleanly by Betts. Meanwhile the RDT splits Rabach and Dockery easily, and Rabach holds him so badly that he is pulled along behind the guy and gets dragged onto Jason Campbell.

Mike Williams is beat to the outside (surprise!) and on the other side Fred Davis (I think) is unable to handle a blitzing LB, so Campbell steps up to escape pressure from both edges. The line gets crossed up with multiple stunts, and even though no one achieves total penetration it makes a mess of things so that when two more guys (a DB and a LB) come on a delayed blitz they’re not easily picked up. Campbell has to step up into this chaos and eventually a DT outmaneuvers Heyer to get the sack.

LG, RG, and RT maul the Redskins DTs (Golston and Lorenzo Alexander). Orakpo, at SLB on the play side, blows away a TE to get into the backfield but, partly in thanks to some holding from the guy he just beat, Orakpo comes too far inside and Turner beats him on the sweep. The LT pulls outside and takes out Smoot, thus winning the corner for Turner. And as has been well publicized, DeAngelo Hall takes an awful angle and Turner easily beats him by cutting back inside.

J.Elam extra point is GOOD, Center-B.Pittman, Holder-M.Koenen.

WAS 3 ATL 21, 5 plays, 61 yards, 2:20 drive, 11:24 elapsed

M.Koenen kicks 63 yards from ATL 30 to WAS 7. R.Cartwright to WAS 29 for 22 yards (A.Stecker).

Washington Redskins at 3:36, (1st play from scrimmage 3:31)

1-10-WAS 29 (3:31) L.Betts up the middle to WAS 33 for 4 yards (J.Abraham).

2-6-WAS 33 (2:59) J.Campbell sacked at WAS 27 for -6 yards (sack split by J.Abraham and J.Babineaux). WAS-J.Campbell was injured during the play. His return is Probable.

How many times have I written this – DE threaten Mike Williams to the outside, then puts on a spin move to the inside and Williams lacks the agility and athleticism to recover. Welcome back, Todd Collins.

3-12-WAS 27 (2:35) (Shotgun) T.Collins pass short left to S.Moss to WAS 23 for -4 yards (C.Houston).Timeout #1 by ATL at 02:30.

This was an attempted screen. Heyer, Dockery, and Rabach are meant to be the blockers but they are way too slow getting over.

Three man rush. Daniels takes a monster block from a WR that severely slows him on the way to the backfield, which means LT, LG, and C are initially all free to gang up on Haynesworth. Golston is double teamed by RG and RT because Orakpo follows a back into his pass route. Ryan is forced to scramble purely by coverage – there’s not even a hint of pressure. Oh, and then a fight happens.

1-10-WAS 41 (1:29) (Shotgun) M.Ryan pass short right to M.Booker to WAS 32 for 9 yards (D.Hall).

This time Haynesworth overpowers that pesky LG, but Ryan gets the ball out just before the hit.

Redskins line up only three linemen, but blitz Tryon from the offensive left and Doughty from the right. Haynesworth isn’t yet down in his stance at RDE when the ball is snapped, so he is attacking without the usual force and gets swallowed up by the LT and LG. Golston powers through the C, and doesn’t need to worry about the RG because he pulled to the outside to pick up Doughty.

3-11-WAS 42 (:50) M.Ryan pass incomplete short left to R.White.PENALTY on WAS-L.Alexander, Roughing the Passer, 15 yards, enforced at WAS 42 - No Play. Atlanta accepts 10-second runoff on clock in lieu of timeout.

Lorenzo Alexander lines up at DT but stunts to the outside and beats the LT. He closes on Ryan, who is forced to rush his throw and it sails high. The ball leaves Ryan’s hand when Alexander is about 2 feet from contact and running full speed. No one but Superman would be able to stop himself, and Alexander applies a text book and totally safe hit. Absolute, unambiguous, total horseshit roughing call.

1-10-WAS 27 (:39) (Shotgun) M.Ryan pass short left to R.White ran ob at WAS 20 for 7 yards (C.Horton).

Orakpo is at RDE and attacks inside, while Haynesworth stunts around him to the outside. Haynesworth can’t quite make it around the corner, but the threat of him makes the LG and LT nervous so they’re trying to slide to keep Haynesworth in front of them and can’t block Orakpo with full force. Orakpo powers through them.

3-12-WAS 29 (:28) (Shotgun) M.Ryan pass short left to T.Gonzalez to WAS 16 for 13 yards (C.Horton).Timeout #3 by ATL at 00:23.

3 comments:

Still, take away the pick six and the Falcons still scored 17 offensive points in the 1st half. Does it seem like it was mostly just a couple of homerun plays and otherwise the Def played okay? Or were they getting pushed around for the most part? Couldn't watch the game...

It wasn't just a couple of big plays - the Falcons offense was consistently effective. I've been holding off until I finished the game to present conclusions, but I'm thinking we got thoroughly out-coached on this one. And I mentioned Justin Blalock - through the first half he was matched up against Haynesworth and gave as good as he got. The defense got beat this week, to be sure. Right now my inclination is to congratulate the Falcons on a job well done rather than re-evaluate the quality of our defense, but we'll see if reviewing the second half changes my mind on that.

Staying Medium

This blog, originally founded in the heyday of the Jim Zorn era, is dedicated to countering the irrational euphoria or despair that follows every Washington Redskins win or loss by keeping the focus on the play on the field. You will find I often talk about the boring things like blocking and punting. That's because those things are important. You can email me at stayingmedium@gmail.com or find me on twitter at @staymediumblog.